Fabrication and properties of highly transparent Er2O3 ceramics with ZrO2 additive by vacuum sintering

Highly transparent Er2O3 ceramics were fabricated at varied temperatures in the range of 1700-1850 degrees C for 8 h in vacuum environment using commercial Er2O3 powders as starting materials and 1 at.% ZrO2 as sintering additive, for the first time. The influence of sintering temperature on the microstructure and optical properties of Er2O3 ceramics was investigated. The Er2O3 ceramic sintered at 1850 degrees C had an average grain size of 6.2 mu m and an in-line transmittance of 69% at 1100 nm, which reached the best transmittance level compared to the open literature. Therefore, the Er2O3 ceramic doped with 1 at.% ZrO2 as sintering additive developed in this study presented relatively smaller grain size and excellent optical quality, and could be a potential material for laser and photonic applications.